Overdue Updates

I have been really bad lately about posting updates, so I will catch you all up on the boys.  Things have been kind of crazy with the holidays getting over, working a ton, various viruses going around and just lots of other stuff going on.

In December the boys had their 5 year and 6 month checkups.  They are both doing well and right on target for growth and development.  Between the two of them had to get 9 shots!  That was pretty traumatic for all involved!

Once January started Payton got back into classroom style learning at PreK.  He does so great when he is learning and really gets into all of his subjects.  Last week he learned about penguins and he told me about their migration patterns and their defense mechanisms!   He is learning more sight words every month and loves to point them out when he sees them in books.  Lately he has been really into drawing pictures and making books.  He really likes to be Mom and Dads helper at well.  Whether it be laundry, cooking, taking the garbage out, whatever, he just likes to help.  And as always he loves Legos and puzzles.  In 2 months we have Kindergarten roundup!   Also in March he will start spring soccer.  So I sure hope it warms up a bit before then!!  Then this summer brings TBall and swimming lessons and then possible fall soccer again!

Easton is now mobile!  He is not crawling yet, but he is rolling….everywhere!!  He has been able to roll over for a little while, but really had no interest in doing so.  You could put him on his belly or his back and he was perfectly happy.  Well for about the last week or so he has figured out that he can roll to get to things!  This has caused him to lodge himself under various furniture items!  Tonight he learned that rolling over in the bath is probably not a good idea!  This also now means no Legos sitting out and that I need to clean my floors a little more often!   He also puts EVERYTHING in his mouth!  Payton never really did that as a baby, but Easton will put anything within arms reach in his mouth!  He has been sitting well on his own for a little while which has opened up a new world of play for him.  He loves to sit and play with toys scattered around him.  He is just starting to try and wave and clap.  When he gets really excited he starts kicking his legs like crazy.  He gets most excited seeing Payton and the kitties.   He now eats babyfood three times a day and really likes it.  He is just starting to eat little Gerber fingerfoods.  We have tried water and juice and he really is not into it yet.  He just holds it in his mouth with this look like why in the world would I want this!  He is still a super happy baby and smiles so easy.  He has started to be a lot more vocal and likes to shriek to get your attention.  If we are in the car or something and Payton is singing to his MP3 player, Easton will babble louder and louder to try and keep up!

He had a follow up cardiology appointment at the beginning of January and the doctor said his defect looks like it is corrected and everything looked good from the surgery.  He was a little squirmy for the testing, so when we go back in a few more months they said they might give him some meds to relax him so they can get really good pictures.  After that next appointment we will go back in a few years and then go from there.  The doctors there are great!  I have been doing some work with the Childrens Miracle Network and Childrens Hospital here for their annual childrens telethon because I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful resource.  So, if you know anyone that wants to donate, let me know before the end of February!!

Overall we have been spending a lot of time at home.  Like most of you, we are extremely ready for this winter to get over.  I can not wait to be able to just go somewhere with out the coats and blankets covering Easton, etc!  Only a few more months until summer!!!  Until then we will try and keep ourselves from going insane while staying occupied inside!

Christmas festivities

We had a wonderful Christmas this year with lots to celebrate!  Payton is convinced that Santa came to his house and had lots of questions about him and how he makes his deliveries.  He was very concerned that the presents might get wet when it rained or snowed.  He was also worried for houses without Christmas lights, because he thinks that the only way that Santa can find your house is if you have lights.  His little mind just never stops!   We started out the fun the weekend before Christmas by spending the entire day baking cookies and Christmas goodies.  Then, Justin was lucky enough to have that Sunday off of work, so we went to Union Station and saw the Holiday Express train and lots of model trains.  It was a big hit!  And Santa was even there!  We even drove around that weekend and looked at lots of Christmas lights.  On Christmas Eve it started snowing like crazy (and didn't stop for 3 days), so the boys and I hung out at home.  After dinner they got into their Christmas PJs and picked out cookies for Santa.  Payton went to bed better then he ever has!  He woke up at 2am, yes, 2am and asked if we could open presents!!  I said no, now go back to sleep!  Around 6:30 we woke up for good and saw all of the presents that Santa brought.  The boys had a faboulous time!  Easton even seemed to enjoy everything.  Payton was so appreciative, it was very sweet.  He helped Easton open all of his presents and showed him how everything worked!  Then Justin and Payton went out to shovel a  bunch of snow.  (One of the things that Santa brought was a sled and a little shovel!)  I think justin wanted to rest, but Payton really wanted to go and shovel snow!  So out they went.  We didn't plan on seeing my family for Christmas until next weekend because my sister had planned to go to Iowa.  But, with the near blizzard conditions, she made the wise decision to stay in KC.  So, we decided that why not, we could get together that night!  Moms house is about 6-10 blocks away and we almost didn't make it!  The snow removal around here is pretty pathetic!  After a wonderful evening there we went home and crashed!  I spent the next two days with the boys just playing and hanging out all weekend!  It continued to snow all day Saturday, so they went out Saturday night and shoveled some more snow.  When they were done, Payton wanted to keep shoveling, so they decided to head over to my moms and do her driveway as well, (and I think Justin wanted left overs!!)  I feel like I am in Iowa with all of the snow we are getting.  We have lived here 9 years, and don't ever remember seeing this much.  And it looks like it is going to stay for a while, so it is a good thing we have lots of new toys to play with, because I think we will be staying home a lot!!

We are now looking forward to a very low key New Years.  Payton is learning about it and resolutions at school and he just informed me today that he learned at midnight on the last day of December you have to celebrate the new year.  So now I have an odd feeling that he will want to stay up??! 

The week of extremes: Birthdays to heart surgery

The past seven days has had the ultimate in extremes.   I don't really even know where to start, so I am going to just go in order.  Last Thursday, my sweet adorable Payton turned 5 years old!  I can not believe it!  How can he already be 5!!  He wanted a spongebob theme, so we made cupcakes for him to take to school.  Then after school some family came over and we celebrated his birthday with an ice cream cake!  He is VERY excited to be 5!  He will tell you all of the things he can do (or thinks he can do) now that he is 5!  He seems so grownup now.   Five is one of those big birthdays! This was the first year he had a 'friend' party.  His party was scheduled for Sunday (it was scheduled before we knew when Eastons surgery was).  So we spent a lot of time on Saturday preparing fo the party and getting all of the favors and such together.  His party with his friends was at a rec center and it was a lot of fun.  I think the kids really enjoyed themselves.  They got to color spongebob pictures, have cake, ice cream and juice boxes then go in the gym and run obstacle courses and just have lots of fun!  He had a great time turning 5 and thank you to so many people who made it so special. 

On Monday was the dreaded surgery for Easton.  In case you don't know, I will give a quick run down of the back story.  A little over a month and a half ago, I took him in to the doctor over the weekend for a minor ear infection.  They detected a heart murmer.  Which usually doesn't mean much and they are actually pretty common and most of the time means nothing.  We followed up with our pediatrician and he confirmed the murmer and also said that usually they are 'innocent' murmers that lots of people have.  He said though that we woudn't know unless we followed up with a pediatric cardiologist.  So, we did that and right away he knew that this was not nothing.  After a few hours and lots of tests later, it was confirmed that Easton had a congential heart defect called patent ductus arterious or PDA.  Basically there is an opening that is supposed to be open in a babys heart while they are in utero, and it is supposed to close after birth.  For some reason his did not.  It causes too much blood to flow through certain parts of the heart and causes extra stress on the heart and lungs.  His left side of his heart was already slightly enlarged and would continue to get larger without getting fixed.  If left untreated, he could have heart and lung failure.  So it had to get fixed sooner rather then later.  They scheduled the appt and we had to wait a month for the surgery.  It was a very long month and I am glad that i had Paytons birthday to focus on.  We had to keep Easton isolated from everyone for 4-5 days before surgery to make sure that he didn't get exposed to any germs or illinesses before surgery.  So he didn't get to leave the house or even go to Paytons party.  :-(

Monday was the surgery and it lasted a few hours.  He did great and the doctor was able to fix the defect via a catheter put in through the vein in his groin.  It was a long and stressful day, but we are very glad it is over.  They wanted to monitor him overnight and do some tests in the morning to make sure that the device they put in his heart stayed in place.  We were able to come home early Tuesday afternoon.  So now Easton and I are just hanging out at home the rest of the week.  I am so grateful that we have such a wonderfull Childrens Hospital here in KC.  They were truly wonderful.  And thank you to everyone who has been thinking of us over the past month or so.  I am overwhelved by the amount of calls, emails, cards, text messages, etc.  We are so lucky to have so many caring people in our lives. 

 

We are now looking forward to Christmas.  I haven't had a chance to think much about it yet, so I better hurry up and get on that!  Payton is very excited for Santa to come and thanks to a website I found, he received a personalized letter in the mail from Santa Claus!  He loves christmas lights and gets very excited to drive around and see them.  This will be an extra special Christmas this year now that Easton is here as well! 

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!

Halloween 2009!

I do not have a lot of time for a big update, so I uploaded a bunch of pictures instead!  The boys had a good Halloween!  In the words of Payton, "Halloween is the BEST day ever!!"  We had a party at school on Friday morning and then in the afternoon we went trick or treating at my work.  They make a big production out of it and there are tons of kids and candy there!  Then on Saturday Payton patiently waited all day to go trick or treating that night! 

We have been keeping busy with lots of work (mostly me) and enjoying lots of family time.  Justin has actually had a few weekend days off, so we are soaking them up before he starts working like crazy for the holidays.  We have also been really busy watching Iowa football!  GO HAWKS!  We think Easton must be a good luck charm!  He has never seen Iowa lose!  What a perfect year to have a child with the middle name Kinnick! 

Payton has been busy learning how to read some more words and is really into drawing and coloring.  He also really like to cut things out and either glue or tape them to something else. :-)   He he anxiously waiting for his birthday and christmas.  Easton is really into his hands.  For some reason he LOVEs to have his hand in his mouth.  If he could fit them both in there at the same time I think he would!  He are going to start feeding him cereal followed by baby food this weekend, so I am sure that will be interesting!

Fall is here!

The last few days we have got to spend a lot of quality time indoors...beause it has been freezing outside!!   Who knew October could be so cold!

The boys are both doing great.  Payton is done with soccer now for the year and I think he really enjoyed it.  So I am pretty sure we will sign him up again in the spring.  He has been busy with school and is looking forward to Halloween.  They have learned quite a few songs about fall and Halloween, so he has been singing them a lot.  He has also learned the I-O-W-A cheer and does that when we are watching football games!

Easton had his 4 month check up last week and is now 15 lbs 6 ounces and 25 1/4 inches.  The doctor was impressed as to how 'social' he is.  He babbles a ton and does not stop smiling or laughing.   He had to get a few more shots though this visit which he was not thrilled about.  In December they both have doctors appointments and both will get shots, so I am not looking forward to that appt.  He is doing great at daycare and just loves his teachers.  He is already starting to become a flirt I think!

Payton and Easton still completely adore each other.  Payton is very protective of his little brother and is always telling us what Easton does and doesn't want!  On a few occasions after I have put them both to bed, I have found Payton in Eastons room.  He is usually  standing by the crib trying to cover him up and usually holding his hand.  It is very heartwarming.  I am anxious to see how he feels when Easton is crawling all over his Legos though!

Reality check...

This past week I had to get back to reality and go back to work.    It was very hard to leave as I hadn't been away from Easton hardly at all in 12 weeks.  But, it has been okay and I am reassured knowing that he is well taken care of and his teachers all adore him.  In fact, I think he is going to get pretty spoiled!  Payton was so excited for Easton to start day care, that he will leave his PreK class and go check on him a few times throughout the day!  Things have been very busy since going back to work though.  Evenings are kind of a blur as there is so much to accomplish in such a short amount of time.

Payton is really starting to connect with Easton much more and truly adores him.  I think because Easton will now respond to him and he loves to watch Payton and smile ang giggle at him.  Easton is so smiley!  He will pretty much smile at anything, but LOVES ceiling fans!  It is so funny.  He will actually laugh at loud at them! 

Payton started soccer last weekend and told me that "Soccer is awesome!"  He has a couple of friends from school on his team so I think that helps!  We have another game this weekend, so hopefully he still thinks its awesome!!  PreK has also started back up, so that means homework, projects and lots of learning!  I have looked at their daily lesson plans and they work on a ton of stuff everyday.  It is no wonder he is exhausted at night!  He will be more then ready for kindergarten nexxt year.

Today we went to a large park with my mom and Lindsey and Kellen and had a Labor Day picinic!  We had so much fun!  We ate a lot, and played frisbee, and catch and walked on some trails and even saw some deer close up!  Payton had a blast running around all afternoon and Easton loved to lay on a blanket under a tree.   All in all it was a great day!

Trip to Chicago with a stop in the QCs

Yesterday we just got back from a vacation to Chicago with a stop in the Quad Cities along the way!  It was a great trip and we really enjoyed ourselves.  I can not believe everything that we accomplished!!  I will give a rundown of the highlights!

Last Friday we left Kansas City and headed for Davenport.  We went to the Mississippi Valley Fair and Payton loved it!  On Saturday I got together with some friends for dinner and drinks.  Then on Sunday we headed to Chicago.  We went straight to Navy Pier and rode on the huge ferris wheel.  On Monday we woke up early and headed downtown for a tour of Wrigley Field (I had gotten Justin tickets for a tour for his birthday this past summer).  The tour was a lot of fun and it was really neat to listen to all of the history.  After our tour we went to the Field Museum and the Aquarium.  Payton really enjoyed the dinosaur bones!  Then, after they closed we went to Millennium Park, which is a nice park right downtown with lots of neat sculptures and such.   It was a very productive and exhausting day!  Tuesday we went to the Museum of Science and Industry, which was one of the big highlights!  There was so much to see and do there and tons of things for Payton to play with.  We stayed until the last possible minute and could have spent a few more hours there!  After the museum we drove around to check out Chinatown and Michigan Avenue and then went out to eat and had some authentic Chicago style pizza.  It was yummy!  Then on Wednesday we checked out and started the 10 hour drive home!  The drive actually wasn’t bad and we made a few stops along the way to play.

So overall we had a great trip, but it is always good to be home.  (Except for unpacking and the mounds of laundry that I am still doing)!